Life Project Blog

Acts 28:1-16

It was a cold and rainy day when the 276 souls arrived on the island of Malta after the shipwreck, and the people on the island were very kind to them, seeing to their needs. Since it was a cold day, they built a bonfire to help them get warm and dry. Paul, as was his custom, chipped in to help and brought in some brush for the fire. As he moved up to the heat, a viper launched itself from the brush and attached to Paul’s arm. Everyone who saw this knew Paul was a dead man walking.

The Maltese assumed that Paul must have been a very bad man, since he was saved from the shipwreck only to die from snakebite, but something very unusual happened: Nothing. As strange as it may sound to say that, it’s true; Paul’s hand should have swelled up, but it didn’t. Paul should have become quite sick, but he didn’t. Paul should have keeled over dead, but there he was as if nothing had happened. The Maltese eventually decided that rather than being a bad man, he must be a god!

Afterwards, they were taken in by the chief official of the island, a man named Publius.  He showed great hospitality to his guests but soon his father became seriously ill.

When news reached the rest of the Maltese people that Paul had healed the man’s father, they brought their sick from all over the island to Paul so that they too might be healed, and Paul was quite accommodating; one can only imagine the impact this had for the Gospel that Paul had brought with him to their island. Publius would provide everything they needed when the time came for them to set sail, some three month later.

When they finally arrived in Rome, they were warmly greeted by the brothers and sisters there. The guards were lenient with Paul at first, and allowed him to live by himself, with only one guard to keep watch. As we will see next time, nothing was done to keep him quiet…

Acts 27:27-44

The storm had been going on 14 days, and the crew and passengers, 276 in all had not eaten. The crew discovered that they were most likely approaching land, but since it was night, they could see nothing, and fearing running onto the rocks and being killed, they set anchor until daylight.

The crew also lowered the lifeboat, apparently hoping to get away safely from the ship once they could see land, but Paul noticed what they had done and informed the centurion, who set the boat adrift. I’m guessing the sailors weren’t overly thrilled by this, so Paul stepped up and urged everyone to have something to eat, changing the subject. He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it, and that seemed to encourage the others to join him, and they all ate their fill. After that, final preparations were made to make landfall as soon as the sun came up.

When daylight finally came, they couldn’t identify where they were, but they did see a bay with nice sandy beaches in the distance, and the crew made for it… until they ran aground on a sandbar some distance from the beach. The stern of the ship was quickly dashed to pieces by the rough surf; they would have to swim for it. This of course gave the soldiers a quandary for they couldn’t risk any of the prisoners escaping, so they resolved to kill them all. God of course was not going to have it, for the whole point of all of this was to get Paul to Rome; their commander intervened on Paul’s behalf and they were spared. Then he directed that those who could swim should head for shore, and those who couldn’t were given planks and other floating objects to ride into the beach; everyone made it, and thus Paul arrived in Malta.

We must know that after all this, Paul’s visit there would be a noteworthy one, and we’ll see what happens next time.

Acts 27:1-26

We know from the text that Luke was with Paul on the trip to Rome; no one else who might have been with Paul on the voyage is named in the text. In the first 12 verses, Luke tells us where they stopped, and of unfavorable winds that caused delay upon delay in their progress. As you read this, you might wonder why the weather was so uncooperative when they were on a mission from God to get Paul to Rome, for surely God could calm things down if He wanted to. Of course, another possibility would be that there was another force in play, a force that did not want Paul in Rome to accomplish God’s will for him there, a force that might try to use the weather as a hindrance to his progress.

As for me, I think there was quite a struggle going on behind the scenes.

In 27:13 ff. Luke tells us of a great storm that came up, giving us details that make it clear that this was no ordinary storm, as it raged day after day for 2 weeks. The sailors did all they could do to keep the ship afloat, but they began to lose heart; everyone feared that they would die.

But they would not die.

After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.” (27:21-26)

God’s will for Paul to appear before Caesar would not be deterred by a storm, for God’s will is going to be done on this earth. Yes, His will might be opposed by men or by the spiritual forces of darkness, but they will never keep it from being done. In fact, the opposition of the Evil One may well provide an additional opportunity for God’s will to be done; just imagine the impact this statement of Paul’s would have when all of the men on the ship survived this mammoth storm in spite of the shipwreck that we will read about next time!

Acts 22:30-23:11

After the scene in the torture chamber, the Roman commander must have gone to the Roman tribune, for he then summons the Sanhedrin into session and takes Paul before them in an effort to discover what Paul was being accused of. In spite of their brutality, it is difficult to accuse the Romans of being anything other than cunning in this scene, for their tactics have shifted in a fascinating way; they are now defending their citizen in a sense, and shifting the responsibility for the mob violence from the victim of the mob to the leaders of the people who had committed the violence. Remember that Luke has not mentioned that the Sanhedrin was behind the mob’s actions; it was some “Jews from Asia” who incited the crowd… Now, the Sanhedrin needs to give an account…

Paul begins his defense in 23:1. Isn’t that interesting; he hasn’t been accused of anything, in fact, the purpose of the meeting is to discover what the accusations are. Essentially, Paul makes a statement that in everything he has done; he has been a faithful servant of God.

Ananias became the high priest in 47 AD, and he was known to be extremely corrupt, according to the Jewish historian Josephus. When Ananias heard Paul’s statement, he ordered him struck in the mouth, in violation of the Law (Lev. 19:15):

“God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!” (23:3)

Everyone was shocked that Paul would speak to the high priest in such a manner:

Those who were standing near Paul said, “How dare you insult God’s high priest!”

Paul replied, “Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’” (23:4-5)

Interesting response from Paul; did he really not know he was addressing the high priest, dressed as he was in his judge’s costume, seated in the high priest’s special chair? We know Paul’s eyesight was poor, but did he really not know?

Three years ago I was a witness in a court case. I am legally blind, and I could not see the judge from where I was giving testimony, but when the judge asked me a question, I could hear where the voice had come from and I could tell that it wasn’t the attorney who was asking; I couldn’t see the attorney either, but I could tell. I don’t believe for a second that Paul didn’t know whom he was addressing… but no one would have known he was the high priest by his actions, since he was violating the law he was there to enforce, and thus I would have to suggest that Paul spoke with irony in this instance. Paul got one pop in the mouth, the high priest got two.

OK, the first part of the story is funny; the next part is hilarious…

In 23:6-10 we read that all Paul needed to do at this point is to say he had been attacked because he taught about the resurrection, and the Pharisees and Sadducees were at others’ throats. Nobody accused Paul of anything, and the Romans had to take Paul out of the now chaotic room by force… The scene ends with 23:11:

The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”

A few posts back we saw that Paul had been led by the Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem, and that the same Holy Spirit had been warning others that he would have a rough time of it when he got there, that he would be bound by the Jews and handed over to the Gentiles, giving us a riddle: What was going on here, isn’t that a contradiction? This is the answer to the riddle; Paul would take the Gospel to the very heart of the Roman Empire as a result of this chain of events.